In an article appearing on Examiner.com, Ruth Sweats, a resident at the Osborne Apartment complex in Spring Lake Park, Minnesota, was having a casual conversation with another resident about the Bible when a social worker interrupted to say she could not talk about religion or the Bible in common areas.
The social worker reportedly said that since the non-profit complex receives federal funding, Sweats "did not have First Amendment rights because HUD does not allow religious discussions in public areas of the complex," reported Todd Starnes of Fox News.
Sweats then contacted the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), a public interest law firm that defends the freedom of religion, who responded by sending a letter to the complex owner explaining that HUD "does not prohibit discussion about religion in the facilities to which it provides funding."
"Over 10 years ago, then HUD Secretary Mel Martinez publicly affirmed that it is not HUD’s policy to discriminate against religious expression in facilities that it funds and that such discrimination would perhaps violate 'the religious exercise rights of the residents,'” the letter added.
Mel Martinez was quoted in the letter as saying: "I want to affirm that HUD follows a fundamental constitutional principle regarding faith-based organizations, articulated by the Supreme Court: to the extent the common areas and meeting rooms are made available to any organization for the purpose of conducting residential programs, faith-based organizations may not be denied the equal right of access because of their religious character. To do so is to engage in viewpoint discrimination, in violation of the free speech rights of the organization - and perhaps the religious exercise rights of the residents as well."
ADF legal counsel Matt Sharp told Fox “Government funding should not be misused to ban a widow’s prayers. The private decision of senior citizens to discuss their faith, read the Bible, and pray is private speech, and no law requires this privately owned independent living facility to restrict the religious expression of these members of America’s greatest generation,” he added.
"The right thing to do out of respect for the senior citizens—many of whom fought or saw their spouses fight in wars to defend our nation and the freedoms upon which it is built—is to remove the ban on religious expression in the commons area."
The complex is being given until October 26 to restore residents' freedom to pray, discuss the Bible, and engage in other forms of religious expression before further action is taken.
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